The Jon Brion Tendinitis Report SWAT Team is in no way officially connected to Jon Brion, nor to any of his minions.
It Was a Sad Day in April...
On April 7, 2006, Jon Brion opened his infamous Friday Largo gig with a piano medley entitled Left Hand's Greatest Hits and proceeded to play the entire show one-handed. To the tune of anguished wailing among the devoted, word spread that the show wasn't just another example of his quirky genius but instead the result of the musician's scourge, tendinitis.
A bit more anguish kicked in when all upcoming Largo shows were put on TBA status.
We at the Jon Brion Tendinitis Report SWAT Team have lots of spare time these days, now that there is no need for making obsessive LA travel plans and whatnot, so we've decided to provide a central location for news sharing, the organization of various pagan healing circles, and anguished wailing (as long as it's in three-part harmony and/or the style of Tom Waits).
We'll put our massive editing skills, rock star connections (hahahaha), and doe-eyed devotion to work for you here. If you have any information, leave a comment. We'll add it to the chronology, assuming it's accurate and/or really amusing.
Most sincerely wailing,
Your JBTR SWAT Team
The Jon Brion Tendinitis Report Chronology
April 7, 2006: Jon's show is played entirely one-handed, with highlights including a quasi-Les Paul version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"; a conjoined twin version of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" with David Garza (Jon on the frets, David on the strumming); many masturbation jokes; and (allegedly) no mention of Def Leppard.
April 14, 2006: Largo is closed on Friday night for the first time since the birth of Methuselah.
April 17, 2006: All the Friday night shows on Largo's calendar through June are changed from Jon Brion to TBA. Southwest Airlines reports record cancellations of trips to Los Angeles.
April 21, 2006: A rock star friend--a very tall guitarist whose amount of talent per square inch is comparable with Jon's--of Jon's is buttonholed by the JBTR SWAT Team backstage after an east coast show. He informed us that the tendinitis resulted from Jon indulging in some new "finger style mania" and its consequent obsessive playing. He seemed to offer hints of a positive prognosis but only after we looked like we were going to cry.
Meanwhile, on the other coast, Aimee Mann fills in Largo's Friday night spot with two sets but, to the disappointment of many, does not deliver on her promise to play Badfinger on the ukulele.
April 26, 2006: A JBTR staffer gets a call from Largo confirming the cancellation of the April 28 show and asking if she would instead like to be placed on the list for the Dave Palmer and friends (i.e., Fiona Apple) show. She demurs, and the voice on the end of the line suggests that she keep checking back. This results in a bout of severe "hand-wringing mania" and a further killing of travel plans.
April 28, 2006: An associated blog posts a report of the sad news, along with a commemorative Virgin Largo Show description, and throws in a live MP3 file to boot.
May 7, 2006: A full month since Jon Brion's last known public performance, Largo's May calendar is updated with all kinds of delicious items, including coveted Friday night spots by the wonderful (in decidedly different ways) Zach Galifianakis, Naked Trucker, T-Bones, and Kristen Hersh. It remains, however, sorrowfully Jon-free.
May 10, 2006: The recording on Largo's answering machine says that Jon is "taking a break," and there's no mention of tendinitis or a return date. We briefly consider changing our name to jonbriontakesabreakreport, but decide to forgo the havoc.
May 11, 2006: The eels are playing Largo tomorrow night--the eels, people!
May 12, 2006: In its charmingest move ever, LA Weekly does a cover story on Jon. It's brimming with glimmers of insight and rambling, but there's no mention of the drastically TBA-d Largo schedule. The most likely explanation for the omission is that the interview took place before the Events of April 7, but as we may want to make up something more interesting in the future, we hereby reserve the right to cook up a conspiracy theory, a communist plot, an alien abduction scheme, or a combination of the three. As needed.
May 17, 2006: Largo's June schedule is remarkably complete, though one TBA spot improbably lifts our hearts. But dammit, the JBTR newsroom is scheduling a pedicure for our impending trip to LA anyway.
May 24, 2006: A well-coifed source hints that we might/sort of/kinda consider keeping a slight eye on the July Largo calendar. Ahem.
Despite all the qualifiers, this small crumb of hope has us whistling under our breath, smiling at strangers, and doing little impromptu happy dances on the sidewalk. It also has us checking the Largo calendar five times a day, but some things never change.
June 3, 2006: The JBTR newsroom is pleased to report that our pedicures were not in vain.
Your correspondents, by sheer luck and most generous fate, happened to be at Largo tonight as Jon took the stage and sang three songs from a glorious set of "off the beaten track" Neil Young tracks, and it was fantastic.
The songs were "On the Beach," "Walk On," and "Fucking Up," performed with the truly magnificent Nels Cline, David Garza, and three other great musicians whose names we tried to catch but missed.
Jon's tendinitis is persisting but improving, so we remain in our usual ridiculously hopeful state. And if tonight's show demonstrates anything, it's that ridiculous hopefulness pays off. Take it from us.
See you in Chicago.
June 9, 2006: The JBTR newsroom has it on some authority that Jon Brion is making use of his time away from Largo to work on the next Dido album, featuring Matt Chamberlain, among others. But as every Jon Brion fan should know by now, there's no such thing as a sure thing, so don't hold your breath.
June 20, 2006: Half of the SWAT Team had the good fortune to be moved to tears (of laughter) by Flight of the Conchords at Largo last night and to get a sneak preview of Largo's July schedule. In as much as anyone can ever know what's going on, it sounds like our virtual (is that word dead yet?) vigil will continue apace for at least one more month. Stiff upper lip, chaps!
June 22, 2006: Sunday's Intonation Festival marks Jon's first scheduled performance since April 7, so tomorrow finds both your reporters abandoning their respective coasts and heading to Chicago. We're anticipating the usual dizzifying bliss, and we promise to scribble a report as soon as our composure is restored.
June 26, 2006: Composure restored (barely), here's some Intonation intelligence...
Having braved mildly inclement weather, marauding paparazzi, and the genuflecting throngs who came to see The Sword, your reporters found themselves in a great position to take in the necessarily time-crunched setup and soundcheck. (Note to Sami: You're amazing.) Being in place for soundcheck, we also got the first glimpse of Benmont Tench lurking elegantly about, which caused only slightly embarrassing squeals of delight.
The show itself is likely to be thoroughly reviewed elsewhere (have a look at the list below), so we'll just post the very accurate setlist (we're reporters! we take notes!) and say that watching this brilliant show made us long desperately for Jon's Largo residency to resume. At the same time, we feel very grateful that such a musician exists and that we get to watch him happen.
Same Thing
Fooling Myself
Happy with You
Benmont's piano improv while Jon tuned
Why Do You Do This to Yourself *
Girl I Knew
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright/Knock Yourself Out *
This Will Be Our Year **
Baby You're a Rich Man **
I Believe She's Lying
encore
Waterloo Sunset **
* = with Benmont Tench
** = with Benmont Tench and Glenn Kotche
Some bloggy reviews we've found:
the power of suggestion, the element of chance
As Long as I Gaze on Union Park Sunset
Overheard Backstage at Intonation
Tendinitis Content, as legally required by our name: At the end of soundcheck, Jon was seen grimacing while shaking, massaging, and bending his right hand and wrist, in a manner painfully familiar to anyone who's had tendinitis. After that, though, there was no visible indication of his being a wounded man, despite his playing a killer set with his typical intensity. We therefore shrug our shoulders in unison with the rest of you.
June 28, 2006: Having barely shaken the SWA peanuts from our luggage, the SWAT team (along with many of you, most likely) saw this Billboard article, and it's worth posting again. In the seemingly eternal game of ping-pong that this tendinitis report has become, we feel veritably volleyed, but as you've probably guessed by now, we are aggressively chipper, "no plans to resume performing anytime soon" be damned.
June 30, 2006: Click around, this site is kinda interesting these days...
July 1, 2006: Now that we’ve been adding to the timeline for nearly three long months, we figured a blog format would be easier to read (though we’re now going to lose the prize for world’s most scrollingest myspace page, aren’t we?)
The Jon Brion Tendinitis Report SWAT Team is in no way officially connected to Jon Brion, nor to any of his minions.
